Yahoo Movies Jamie Foxx has 'got the ball rolling' on Mike Tyson biopic and is bulking up
Jamie Foxx has revealed he has “got the ball rolling” on his planned biopic of boxing legend Mike Tyson — and now he’s starting the process of transforming his body.
The 52-year-old Oscar winner told filmmaker Mark Birnbaum on Instagram that he has upped his workout regime in order to get into ring shape by the time filming begins.
Read more: Foxx confirmed for Spawn movie
Foxx said he is hoping to put on another 10 to 15 pounds of muscle in order to embody the fighter.
He revealed his current regime is about “changing the body” and calls for 60 pull ups, 60 dips and 100 press-ups every other day.
“I ain’t got no legs, I ain’t got no calf muscles,” he joked. “So we might have to get some prosthetics for that.”
Speaking about the long gestation period of the Tyson biopic, Foxx said that making movies based on real people is a “tough thing” to do.
He added: “Sometimes it takes 20 years to get them done, but we officially got the real ball rolling.
“I think when we lay the layer of Mike Tyson in this story, I think everybody from young and old will be able to understand this man’s journey.”
Read more: Tyson might have got his big cats from Joe Exotic
Martin Scorsese was originally linked to the movie as director, though Foxx made no mention of him when discussing the latest incarnation of the Tyson project.
Tyson was previously portrayed by Michael Jai White in the 1995 TV movie Tyson.
Foxx has achieved great success portraying real people on the big screen, most notably in his Oscar-winning performance as singer Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford’s 2004 movie Ray.
His recent Death Row drama Just Mercy is one of several films that have been made available for free in the USA in the wake of protests surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement.
Read more: Spike Lee encouraged by Black Lives Matter protests
Tyson, meanwhile, has made a series of cameos in movies, including Rocky Balboa and, most famously, The Hangover and The Hangover Part II.
He has more recently made appearances for the professional wrestling company All Elite Wrestling, confronting wrestler and singer Chris Jericho in a dramatic brawl in May.
